The World Ends With Ciel
by strawhat-alchemist
Summary: "Listen up kid, The World Ends With You. You gotta expand your horizons." Waking up in Shibuya's scramble crossing with no memory and a strange pin, Ciel has no idea what's awaiting him. SEBAxCIEL! Other minor/hinted pairings. Chapter 9: Black Market Pt.1
1. Shibuya

**Authors ramblings: **This is what happens when I play The World Ends With You (for the third time...I think. I don't know since I keep playing it over and over again) and I'm currently obsessed with a certain anime/manga.

I don't think I'll use the games full storyline (you know, the whole Joshua is... Well I won't say. That'd be a spoiler) but I will use parts of it.

**Disclaimer: So zetta slow! Of course I don't own TWEWY or Kuroshitsuji you factoring hectopascals!**

**

* * *

**"_**Outta my face!"**_

He pushed past the hordes of people crowding the scramble crossing of Shibuya.

"_**You're blocking my view."**_

He continued to make his way to _that place._ He hated that he had to put up with the damn crowds everytime. _Well, it's Shibuya. I guess it's to be expected, _he thought.

"_**Shut up!"**_

It was the only place he could go and be alone. In the crowded streets of Shibuya there was only so much silence. Ever since that incident he _wanted_ to be alone.

"_**Stop talking."**_

He walked past AMX, one of the two record stores in Shibuya. Tons of kids that had gotten out of school now crowded outside, listening to the music being played. Lately, it seemed a lot of people (and by that he meant teachers and his parents) had been bugging him, that he had to "stop shutting others out." Like they knew anything.

"_**Just go the hell away!"**_

Especially _that_ guy. Oh, how that guy loved to bug him. Especially during the damn group activities for school. He just happened to not be able to get another partner. (Which he knew was total bull, the guy was pretty damn popular.)

"_All the world needs is me. I got my values. So you can keep yours, all right?"_

He scoffed. Why was he even thinking about that guy right now? What a load. He stood in front of the mural in Udagawa. While most would consider it graffiti, he knew better. It was art.

"_I don't get people."_

"Do what you want, when you want, where you want." That was the way to live. He didn't need others barging into his life, holding him back.

"_Never have. Never will."_

Ciel stared up, placing a hand on the mural. CAT was the name of the guy he admired, well, person. No one knew CAT's gender or identity.

He stared up at the mural, admiring the different colors and the way it all blended together in a work of art that just screamed "Freedom."

He scowled. Just today during his first class that guy had teased him about liking CAT. Ciel shook his head. Now wasn't the time. To think that guy was getting to him. He just wanted to forget about that annoying man!

Too bad for Ciel, the next day he wouldn't even remember him.

* * *

**Authors ramblings:** Review! Tell what you think! Your opinion matters! (Haha I sound like some guy who works in the government trying to recruit army members.) Tell me if this story is worth the effort!

And the italicized text in the center is text from the game when you start the game. The ending text that's centered isn't. I don't think I'll use the story line fully. I think I'll just borrow a few parts.


	2. OWARIHAJIMARI

**Authors ramblings: **In case you didn't notice, I'm naming the chapters after TWEWY/Subarashiki Kono Sekai's OST. (Since the Jap and American version's OST had a few different songs.)

Also, even though SebaCiel is going to be present there will be other plot points. Like friendship :D... Okay, that sounded kind pretty lame, but bear with me.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything! If I did SebaCiel would be canon and Hanekoma would be a playable character with the Jesus beam ability. (I love me some Jesus beams.)

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He placed a hand on his throbbing head and sat up. His eyes adjusted to the light as he heard the sound of people walking through the crowded scramble crossing. He rubbed his temples. It felt like someone had shot him right in the head.

_What's going on?_ He stood up, scanning the area with his eyes. So far all he knew was that there were hoards of people walking by. He had to wonder if it was always so crowded.

_More importantly,_ he looked up at the giant electronic billboard. It was playing all sorts of ads for clothes, jewelry, and the like. _Where in the hell am I?_

Ciel opened his fisted hand and saw that he held a pin. The background of it was black while it held a white skull design on it.

"What the heck?" He closed his eyes as he focused on the pin only, clearing his mind of all other thoughts. Just then it was as if thousands of voices crowded his head.

"_Stupid me! I forgot to set the VCR-"_

"_I hope it rains. Thanks to that stupid baseball game my drama was..."_

"_I'm starving... I know! If I stop by Yuri's work maybe she'll give me free fries!"_

"_I'm tired of eating three 100 yen instant noodles. Just once I wish I could try the 300 yen kind..."_

His eyes snapped open. "Wh-What was that...?"

Ciel heard something jingle in his shorts pockets. He shoved his hands into his pockets and took out three pins.

"More pins?" He inspected the small pins, looking at the designs on them. One had a fire design, the other looked like a slash of air, and the last was a hand.

He raised an eyebrow. What the hell would he do with a bunch of pins?

A shriek to the side of him caught his attention. He saw as a girl, probably around his age, began to disappear into nothing. The only thing left there was a weird looking symbol. It was black and red and resembled a frog.

"What just happened?"

The symbol got closer and closer to Ciel. He could tell that no matter where he was, floating symbols following you around weren't normal.

"H-Hey! Nice froggy!"

It lunged at him and no sooner Ciel found himself surrounded by four frogs. _Frogs? What the fu-_

All four jumped at him and attacked. _Just touching one of these bastards hurts. This isn't normal..._

"What are those things?" He looked around. _I don't have anything to fight them with, I guess I can only run!_ As soon as he saw an opening he ran as fast as he could.

He crouched over, hands on his knees and panting. _That's strange..._ He found himself by a statue of a dog and a train station's store. _You'd think someone would notice people being attacked by weird symbols and over sized frogs._

He heard a few screams behind him. He turned to find more of those weird symbols and people disappearing.

He backed away from the symbols that where closing in on him. _Too many... I can't keep running and I can't fight._

"Hey! Anyone?" Ciel ground his teeth. _Either everyone's ignoring me or they can't hear me and I'm pretty sure it's the latter._

"Stuck, are we? I guess I just found my partner."

Ciel turned to face the owner of said voice but was blinded by a bright flash of light.

"What the hell?" The symbols backed off and headed towards other directions.

"Who was that?" Ciel inspected his himself, making sure everything was in place. _Well I'm not missing any limbs. What was up with the lights, though?_

"I won't ask for any thanks," said someone behind him.

Ciel scoffed. "I wouldn't thank you one way or the other so it doesn't matter." He turned around to leave the area. _I don't think going back there would be a good idea... Maybe I should head somewhere else. Though I don't know where the hell I am._

"You're leaving your partner alone? My, how rude. But I think we'll get along just fine."

He turned to look at whoever was being so damn persistent and following him. "What do you mean partner?"

His so called "partner" smiled. "Partner, as in your partner for the game? Say..."

Ciel flinched. _He looks familiar... Like I've seen him before... But where? I can't remember._

His "partner" wore a questioning look. "You look familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?"

"No. And quit following me! Stalker..." he muttered as he walked past the statue.

Before he could leave he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Now, now, _partner_," the other said. Ciel felt his hands clench tighter and was pretty sure he would punch the guy.

"I can't have you going off. That is," his voice was filled with arrogance as he spoke the next words.

"_That is, if you want to live."_

_

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_**Authors ramblings: Who is his partner? Is it Soma? Agni? Sebby? Grell/Grelle? Alois? Claude? Undertaker? THAT RANDOM GUY WHO PASSES BY MY HOUSE EVERYDAY SELLING FRUIT FROM A CART?**

**Random fruit guy: Que?**

**Me: Damn straight.**

**Reviewers are loved to DEATH~!**


	3. 1st Week: Alois Trancy

**Authors ramblings:** I am...surprised people like this shitty excuse for a fanfiction. Three updates in 2 days? Don't get used to it. Writers block hits me when I least want or expect it. OTL

**Reply to Anon review: **Any who, in response to one of my anonymous reviews, yes, I do like Joshua x Neku. I don't really care who tops (I'm like that with every yaoi pairing I like). But I support Beat x Neku too xD I don't know why, I just do.

**Also, you were all right! His partner is... THE FRUIT CART GUY!**

**Fruit cart guy: Fuck yeah homie!**

**Me: ...I thought you only spoke Spanish?**

**Fruit cart guy: ...Que? -walks away with fruit cart-**

**Disclaimer:** I own Megumi's headphones(in the game), I own Beat's beanie (in the game), I have the Reaper rank, but sadly I do not own TWEWY or Kuroshitsuji. But I suggest you listen to the TWEWY OST! It rocks!

* * *

Ciel growled and slapped his hand away.

"Who the hell do you think you are? Don't touch me so easily," he said with a scowl.

The other stared at him wide eyed before breaking out into a smile. "But that's no fun! I love hugging people!"

Ciel clenched his hands even tighter, he was pretty sure he was bleeding at this point.

"My name's Alois Trancy, but just call me Alois!" the blond boy exclaimed.

"Tch. Whatever. What do you mean, _'If you want to live'_?"

Alois's smile widened. "But that's the rule of the game isn't it?"

"Game? I don't have time for stupid games. I have to-"

"What do you mean that you don't have time?" Though it was a question, it sounded more like a statement. "In this game, we have only so much time that we have enough time."

Ciel looked at him like he had three heads. "Uh, what?"

"Look at your hand!"

Ciel looked down at his open palm and saw a timer. "Wh-What the hell?" Alois looked at his own hand.

"We only have ten minutes to make it to 104. We should hurry," Alois said. He grabbed Ciel by the hand and started to drag him along.

"What's ten-four? What's with the timer? And let go of my damn hand!" Ciel jerked his hand away.

"What are you talking about? If you're in this game you must know about the rules!" Alois said (well more like he yelled it out in happiness).

"What game?" Ciel crossed his arms. _This kid must be high..._

"The composer's game!" Alois insisted. "And about the times, didn't you get the E-mail?"

_E-mail?_ Ciel took his cell phone out of his pocket and, sure enough, saw an E-mail on the front screen.

_**Head to 104. You have 20 minutes. Fail and face erasure.**_

_**-The G.M**_

_G.M? What's that? General Motors? _Ciel hit the delete button. _Hm? Maybe I didn't press it hard enough..._ He hit the button a few more times. He stared at his phone, the message not disappearing. _It's like the spam mail from Hell._

"If we don't hurry we'll be erased. So let's go!" Alois declared while spinning around.

"And why should I trust you?" Ciel asked. "How do I know you're not lying?"

Alois stopped spinning and smiled. "But surely you noticed? How nobody can see us, the weird pins, the symbols, the Noise?"

"Noise?" Ciel asked. _The only "Noise" around here is you._

"Yeah, Noise. Those weird symbols and the frogs? They're called Noise," Alois explained with utter glee.

_Yeah, because I'd be happy about freakish symbols and frogs attacking me,_ Ciel thought sarcastically.

"So let's go. Unless you want to be erased by the reapers! We only have nine minutes so get a move on!" Alois marched ahead of head and Ciel found himself following.

_I must be going insane, but it makes sense. So far, at least._ Ciel made sure to keep a distance between him and the insane blond. _Besides, right now I'm most vulnerable. I can't remember anything but my name and with those "Noise" floating around this seems to be the safest option so far._

Alois began talking about something, though Ciel wasn't really listening. All he heard was "You know what my favorite animal is?" and then he stopped listening.

_But still._ Ciel nodded every few seconds to make it look like he was listening. _Who was that guy I imagined?_

_That guy with the black hair?_

_

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_**Authors ramblings: **Haha, did I surprise you? Sorry to all Alois haters out there (I **don't** LOVE the guy, but I don't hate him) but this fic now contains Alois.

**Any tree can drop an apple, but whoever reviews can drop the freaking moon!**

**-Sho Minami- I mean Strawhat-Alchemist**


	4. Ooparts Out of place artifacts

**Authors ramblings:** **THE ENGLISH DUB CAST FOR BLACK BUTLER HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED ON FUNimation's BLOG! GO READ IT! READ AND FANGIRL!**

**Disclaimer:** I own a red zip up jacket and stand around acting like a reaper saying "To right the countless wrongs of our day, we shine this light of true redemption so that this place may become as paradise. What a wonderful world such would be...", but sadly I do not own TWEWY or Kuroshitsuji.

* * *

He pondered on it for a few seconds. Those sharp features, that pale skin..._ Agh! I can't remember anything!_ He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Alois's blabbering had ceased.

Alois marched on to 104, only to crash into something. "Huh?"

Ciel raised an eyebrow. _Great, is this kid a mime too?_ He walked ahead only to crash into it. He moved back from whatever was there. It had shocked him as soon as he touched him.

A man in a red zip up jacket walked up to them. "Want past this wall? Fight these Noise."

_Oh great, more psychos and more confusion._ "What wall? I don't see anything." Alois stuck his hand out, feeling a shock run throughout his arm. "Maybe it's invisible? Anyway, we should just fight the Noise and see if that does anything."

"Yeah, sure. That's great. One problem: we have no weapons," Ciel said. "But don't you have any pins?" Alois asked. He searched around for something in his pockets and took out two pins. He stuck his hand out to show Ciel. The first pin had a purple background and the emblem on it looked like the upper part of a star. The second was a charcoal color and it's design featured a pink spider on a black cobweb.

"What about them? They're just decorated pieces of metal." Ciel grabbed the pins hesitantly (from what Ciel could tell so far, the kid was a few knights short of a round table). _What're we gonna do? Fling these things at them?_

"I'm not too sure. I can't use them, but I've seen other partners using them," Alois said. He placed his hand under his chin and seemed to be in deep thought. "I saw a few using a pin with a fire emblem on it. I don't know about actually using it though."

"So then how do you expect us to fight?" Ciel asked irritably. _More importantly, how the heck am I going to fight? No way in hell I'm going to die by frogs of all things._

"I don't know, but let's try anyway!" Alois exclaimed. He took out a pin with the skull design and closed his eyes.

Ciel looked around, he could see the Noise symbols. "Don't tell me you're-"

"Time for a fight!" was all Ciel heard before being confronted by a group of Noise frogs.

"Damn it!" Ciel cursed as he avoided the attacks. _ Out of everyone, out of all the people alive, I'm stuck with the psycho!_

He jumped to the left, avoiding one of the frogs, and landed on his side. Two of his pins fell out. _Crap!_ He quickly picked up the one closest to him. It was the red pin with the fire emblem on it.

One of the frogs in front of him lunged towards him. _Damn it!_ He shielded his head with his arms.

He blinked a few times when he noticed he hadn't felt anything. Ciel moved his arms and saw a trail of flames where the frog has previously been.

His eyes widened. He stood up and stared at the pin like he had never seen one before (well, in his defense, it wasn't exactly normal for pins to make trails of fire)."I-It worked!" He grabbed the other pin off the ground. It was the one with the hand in the middle of it.

_Great, but how does this one work? It doesn't look like it'll make fire,_ he thought. He grasped it in his hand as another frog hopped to him. Ciel stared in awe when he saw a traffic cone thrown towards the Noise.

_Telekinesis?_ He clipped the two pins onto the jacket he was wearing. Ciel took out the pin with the slash of wind emblem.

It seemed to have activated as soon as he had took it. He slashed at a nearby frog. It disappeared into what looked like the static from one's TV when it had no signal.

_One more to go,_ he thought as he glared at the last menacing frog. But before he could even attack it disappeared. "Huh?"

He found himself next to Alois and the man in the red jacket. Alois let out a laugh and threw his arms in the air. "That was fun!"

Ciel crossed his arms and shifted his weight to one foot. _Fun? Is this kid insane? Speaking of which..._ "Where were you during the fight? I didn't see you once," Ciel said. If he was going to be the only one fighting what would be the point of staying with Alois?

"What do you mean?" Alois asked, dropping his smile and replacing it with a thoughtful frown. "I was about to ask you the same thing. I was dealing with the frogs when three of 'em disappeared. I took the last one out on my own!" he declared proudly, his smile on his face again.

_That explains why the last frog disappeared on its own._ He turned to the man in the red jacket. "There, we fought your Noise. Now let us through."

The man stayed quiet for a few seconds. "...Objective met. Wall clear!" He turned around and walked away. Ciel stared at the mans back as he walked away. _He has... Black wings?_ He raised an eyebrow. _More over, why was that wall there? And why was it that he could take it down?_

"Hurry it up! We only have four minutes left!" Alois called as he skipped over to 104.

"Right..." Ciel followed the boy. _According to what he said earlier there are others like us... But this kid's the only one I can actually talk to. Damn. Looks like I'll have to bear with it and ask him what he knows._

While lost in his thought, he hadn't noticed Alois had stopped walking. He crashed into his back. "What the hell, Alois?"

Alois turned around. "What? We're already here!" He pointed towards the tall building (Ciel figured that the only word to describe it would be skyscraper) with a large advertisement scaling the front of the building. At the very top it read _'Shibuya 104'_.

He could only stare. There were crowds of people all over the place, going in and out of the place.

"So, what is this place anyway?" Ciel asked.

Alois wore a bemused expression. "You're from here and you don't know ten-four?"

"Ten-four?"

"That's what it's called by everyone. It's called 104, but saying "One hundred and four" is long and boring. So everyone just calls it "Ten-four"." Alois explained. "It's a mall, though they mostly sell women's clothing. They have stuff for guys too."

Ciel only looked up at the mall. He felt like he was supposed to know about it, but he didn't.

"Okay. So, where are we?" Ciel asked. He looked around, looking at the people passing by.

Alois looked even more confused. "What do you mean? We're in Shibuya. In Japan. Where we lived, or at least I did. I guess that if one is in this game, they must live in Shibuya."

"What game?" Ciel asked, irritated. He couldn't remember a thing, and that kid kept mentioning a game of some sort. Nothing made sense, and Ciel was clueless about everything.

"The game. You know, the reaper's game?" Alois said.

"No I don't! What fucking game! I didn't sign up for any damn game!" Ciel yelled.

Alois stared at Ciel for a while before letting out a roaring laugh. "What so funny?" Ciel asked irritably. _I don't see the damn hilarity in being in some sort of "reaper's game" while not knowing anything about anything!_

"I forgot to ask, what's your name?" Alois asked with a huge grin on his face.

"...Ciel. Ciel Phantomhive." Ciel said it with a tone of authority, almost as if demanding respect.

"Ciel Phantomhive? " Alois said with total amusement in his voice. There was a gleam in his sky blue eyes that made Ciel suppress a shiver. "You're Ciel Phantomhive?" Alois asked with a slight chuckle in his voice.

"Yeah, why?" Ciel asked skeptically.

Alois smiled. It was a smile that seemed to say "I know something you don't" and Ciel didn't like it one bit.

"No reason~" Alois said with a giggle.

Ciel retained his serious demeanor. _Obviously he knows something I don't. That's not good. I have to keep my guard up._

"Anyway, anything else you wanna know?" Alois asked. He adjusted the tight black jeans he was wearing and patted down his purple coat that reached down to his knees.

_Yeah, like why you're wearing a coat in the middle of freaking June._ "What's this 'reaper's game' you keep mentioning?" Ciel asked.

"Easy. Once we die, we enter a game. This game determines whether we get another chance, or if we remain dead for good." Alois patted down his white T-shirt and looked around it to see if it had any stains.

"Wait... What did you say...?" Ciel asked. Had he heard right? There was no way...

"What do you mean? I said once we die-"

"Die? As in... As in I'm..."

Alois smirked as he spoke the next sentence. "Yes. Everyone who is in this game is dead. Murdered, suicide, natural causes, everyone who is seen fit by the Composer is to enter the game and participate."

"N-No way..." Ciel's voice was barely above a whisper.

_I can't remember shit, I'm in some game, no one can see me... And..._

_I'm dead?_

_

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_**Authors ramblings: **Thanks to those who review the last chapter which was like... One. xD

Now, I'm being dragged off to watch Toy Story 3 with my family. -_- What. Fun.

**Reviews are appreciated and reviewers are loved~**

**Preview for the next chapter:**

He could only stare as the purple haired boy agitated Ciel with a bone crushing hug.


	5. NOISY NOISE

**Authors ramblings: ** Thanks to all who review. Keep in mind I'll still use some elements from TWEWY but it won't be the exact same thing. So to those who have already played TWEWY, I hope you can bear with me.

**And see if you TWEWY fans can spot the lines that came straight from the game. Also, I has Conductor level! I knew playing non-stop and losing hours of sleep was worth it :D xD And yes, I know that in the game the missions end by saying "the reapers" but oh well. I don't wanna go back and fix it. Laziness FTW?  
**

**Disclaimer: P**lease **E**xcuse **M**y **D**ear **A**unt **S**ally! I do not own Kuroshitsuji/TWEWY. (BTW I'm using the disclaimers for fun. I mean, if the site is called fanfiction I think disclaimers aren't really necessary...)

* * *

Alois placed a hand on his head. _Ugh... Where am I?_ He used his hands as support and lift his upper body sightly. He scanned over the area with his eyes. _We're not at 104, that's for sure._ He could tell they were by the bus station, most likely the station underpass. The walls were covered in dirt and graffiti. _Whoever this 'Hunny' is, they really need to work on their handwriting..._ he thought while eyeing a large mural. Alois stood up completely. He looked ahead and saw his partner standing, hands in his pockets, eyes cast down.

_How... How could I die? More importantly, how did I die? _Ciel's hands clenched into fists. _Damn it, I can't even remember that!_ He let out a frustrated sigh. _All I remember is my name. I'm in some weird ass game run by some sadist bastard._

He looked over to his partner, who was currently staring at a puppy passing by. Alois seemed over joyed by he mere presence of the small chihuahua. His eyes gleamed in pure delight when the dog stood on it's hind legs.

Ciel's palm met with his forehead as he sighed. _But, can I really trust what this kid told me yesterday? So far, it all seems to make sense. And everything he says seems to be true... But... If what he told me yesterday was true..._

_Flashback~_

"..." Ciel remained quiet, lost in his thoughts. He stared up at 104.

Alois put an arm around Ciel's shoulders. "It's alright if you died. All we have to do is win this game. Then you can live again~" Alois said cheerily, almost to the point where it sounded like he was about to sing.

"..." Ciel said nothing but instead shoved Alois's shoulder away from him.

"Ouch. I'm hurt," Alois said with a pout. He looked down at his hand. "The timer's gone! I guess we're done for the day!"

Ciel looked down at his own hand. _It's gone alright. _"What now?" he asked.

"I don't know, I'm not the ruler of this game," Alois answered with a shrug. "But if you have any other questions, I'll answer."

_He seems anxious to answer my questions..._ Ciel mentally sighed. _I might as well take advantage of the opportunity._

"Okay then. Can we leave Shibuya?" Ciel asked. Not that he could or would. He had no knowledge of anything at the moment, and no one could see him. It would be pointless of him to really go anywhere.

"Nope! The game is by the Composer of Shibuya. No player can leave this town!" Alois exclaimed.

"What's up with the E-mails and who's this 'G.M'?" Ciel asked, not caring that he sounded rather eager instead of maintaining his serious tone.

"Oh, that," Alois said apathetically. "The E-mails are missions we have to complete in order to make it to the next day, and the G.M is the Game Master."

Ciel raised a questioning eyebrow. "Isn't the Game Master that Composer person you mentioned earlier?"

Alois shook his head. "No. The Game Master assigns missions, the Composer is the big boss. He picks the players and takes your entry fee. He doesn't actually do anything in the game, he sits back and makes sure that all his workers are doing their jobs. That is unless something disrupts his game."

"Entry fee?"

Alois's smirk fell, a serious expression replacing it. "Yes. In order for players to participate we all have to pay a fee. The thing most important to you is taken and held until the end of the game." Alois seemed to be distressed about something. He cast his gaze away from Ciel and looked onto the people passing by.

"That's idiotic," Ciel said, arms across his chest, with a slight huff. "If we're going to participate by force we shouldn't have to give some damn payment."

"True," Alois said, not speaking like a child with a sugar high for once. "But those are the rules for the game. There's no way to avoid it."

"..." Ciel could feel anger rising in him. _Then why me? I'm tired of this damn thing. Who would want to keep living with annoying people anyway?_

"I have to say though," Alois began. "You can't remember anything, right?"

"What about it?" Ciel asked.

"It's just my hypothesis... But what if your memory was your entry fee?"

Ciel felt his breath hitch. _That's true... That explains why I can't remember anything... Hell, I don't even remember my parents..._

He snapped out of his thoughts as Alois handed him something. "Here, take these pins."

"Huh?" Alois forcefully shoved them into his hands. He dusted his hands off, like he had accomplished some sort of miracle.

"Don't you need the pins for fighting?" Ciel asked. He inspected the pins closer, his sapphire eyes checking every nook and cranny. He flipped them around and saw something on the back. The purple pin read _**'D+B: Ice Blow'**_, while the pin with the spider read _**'Lapin Angelique: Link Spider'**_.

"I can't use them," he stated simply.

_So you're dumping your trash on me? Thanks._ Ciel thought sarcastically while fiddling with a strand of his hair that had been bothering his eyes.

"I fight using something else," Alois said.

"Like what?" As far as Ciel could tell the kid didn't have any weapons on him.

Alois smiled. "That's not really important."

Ciel only gave him a questioning look, but didn't pry any further. It was obvious the kid wouldn't say more than he had.

_~Flashback end~_

"Ugh," Ciel grunted, hand slipping upwards and running through his blue locks of hair.

"Is something wrong, partner?" Alois asked, purposely stretching the word _'partner'_.

"Nothing," Ciel said through gritted teeth. His irritation only grew by the second, and the kid wasn't exactly helping.

A small beeping sound rung throughout the station underpass (though only the players and people in the game would be able to hear them).

Alois flipped his cell phone open. "It's a mission mail."

Ciel opened his own phone. He raised an eyebrow at the mission's request.

"_**Set the cursed sculpture free. You have 60 minutes. Fail, and face erasure.**_

_**-The G.M"**_

Ciel grunted and Alois let out a yelp. Their hands felt like they had been electrocuted.

He looked down. "Timer's back. What's it for?" Ciel asked.

"You really don't remember, do you?" Alois teased. "It's for the mission. If it hits zero before we finish, we'll be erased."

"That makes sense," Ciel muttered. On closer inspection, he noticed something about his phone. "Why'd the date on my phone change?"

"That's what usually happens when time passes," Alois stated. "Or in this example, a day."

"What?" Ciel couldn't really find anything else to say. _How did a whole day go by? I didn't even notice it._

"I guess we fell asleep after the mission yesterday," Alois explained. "But that's okay. Not like we had anything else to do."

_Are you crazy? Well, I've had that question about you since we met, but that's not the point!_ Ciel kept a thoughtful expression on his face. _We were in the middle of the street, in broad daylight! Why the hell would we fall asleep?_

"It says 'cursed sculpture', so I can only assume it's talking about the statue of Hachiko."

_My only guess is that we passed out. And then... We woke up here? Everything in between that time is blank._

"...Ciel?" Ciel snapped out of his thoughts.

Alois scowled. "Ciel, if we wanna get through this, we have to work together."

Just then it had hit him. _Damn. I knew I'd have to be around this kid... But until this game is over, I can't leave him. Not unless I wanna be erased. What star was I born under that gave me bad luck?_ He crossed his arms. "Right, sorry."

Alois smiled again. "It's alright."

_Then why the hell did you complain in the first place?_ "Anyway, we should get going. Where's that Hachiko thing you mentioned?" Ciel asked.

"Do you remember that dog statue from yesterday?" Alois asked.

"Yeah, what about it?" _Don't tell me that's Hachiko._

"That's Hachiko. We should hurry, we only have 60 minutes after all." Alois clenched his fist. "We can't be erased."

Ciel only stared at him in confusion as they headed towards the end of the tunnel. _We all have to pay an entry fee... That means he did too. He seems to remember everything so it wasn't his memory. Wonder what it was..._

"Ow!" Alois moved back. "Another wall."

Ciel looked around. "So now what? Isn't there another way to reach that Hachiko thing?"

"I wish. This is the only way." Alois tapped his foot impatiently. "Yesterday, that guy said 'Objective met. Wall clear!' so maybe we have to clear Noise?"

Ciel looked around, spotting a man standing in jeans and a red jacket. _Yesterday, a guy in the same get up was able to get rid of the wall. I wonder..._

He grabbed his black skull pin and shut his eyes. _Open up your senses..._

He released it from his tight grasp. "That's weird."

"Hm? What is?" Alois said, turning his attention to him.

"I can't scan that guy." Ciel averted his eyes from the man in the red jacket when he saw him turning. T_hat guy in the red jacket yesterday was able to clear that wall when we couldn't so much as touch it. Maybe he's special._

Alois looked in the direction Ciel had been staring at. "Who? The guy in the red jacket coming towards us?"

"Wha-" Ciel turned to see the man right behind him.

In an impassive voice he said, "Want past this wall? Bring me pin number 250, the hundred yen pin. Noise number 18 should have it."

Alois clapped his hands together. "All right then! We just gotta find that Noise."

"Great, but which one is number 18?" Ciel asked, making sure he had his pins in order.

"I don't know, but we'll find out!" Alois took his pin and scanned, picking a random Noise symbol.

Ciel found himself surrounded by one green frog, a red bat, and a blue frog.

The red bat flew towards Ciel, attempting to knock him back. He slashed at it with his hands, "Outta my face!"

As soon as it backed off he made a trail of flames where the two frogs where standing. They hopped away in different directions.

The red bat swooped down and bit down on his neck. He felt his eye lids feeling heavier. _I feel damn tired..._

The red bat disappeared into static, as did the green frog.

The blue frog, who had not lunge towards him once like the green one, instead spit out bubbles in his direction. _Bubbles? What's the worse that could-_ The beam of bubbles hit him, and it did more than make his eyes sting, the damn things actually hurt!

He decided to try out the pin that read _**'D+B: Ice Blow'**_ and took it in his hand. He made an upwards slash with it in the direction where the frog stood. A giant iceberg rose from the ground under it and erased the Noise.

He blinked twice in disbelief. The pins were getting weirder and weirder.

As soon as the Noise disappeared he was back with Alois. He held a red pin in his hand. It read '100' on it in graffiti like writing, and the sign for yen under it.

"One hundred yen?" Ciel took the small pin in his hand and gave it a glance.

"...Objective met. Wall clear!" The man in the red jacket placed a hand out and removed the wall.

"You know," Ciel began, "we still don't know why we fight separately."

Alois shrugged. "True, but it doesn't really matter. Though it does bother me. It's kind of double the work if we're both fighting Noise."

"Noise exist simultaneously within two zones," began the red jacket man. "When you and your partner battle Noise you are separated into different zones to fight them. Their the same Noise, and the only way to defeat them is by erasing them from both zones." The man then promptly walked away.

"Hm, well that explains that," Alois said.

Ciel stared at the pin, though he was lost in though so he didn't give the pin much attention. _It explains the deal with the Noise. Still..._

Ciel chucked the pin behind him and walked ahead. "Come on. We're wasting time just standing."

Alois picked the pin up and pocketed it. "What are you doing? This pin is worth one hundred yen. It's not much, but we haven't got anything."

Ciel gave him a puzzled look. "First off, how is that piece of tin worth money? Secondly, we're dead. Remember? What use could we possibly have for money?"

Alois shook his finger. "These yen pins have a code embedded in them. Give them a scan with your phones camera, and it changes it into money. Plus, we might need it for something later."

Ciel opened his mouth in protest, but shut it. With everything that had happened so far, it didn't seem impossible.

They walked out of the underpass and allowed time for their eyes to adjust to the sun light. "It's bright today, I wonder how people are enjoying the fucking weather?" Alois stretched his arms upwards.

_Who cares? People are annoying. All they do is get in the way. Who needs them?_ Ciel adjusted the denim jeans he was wearing. They were a little bit too big for him. _Damn young adult sizes._

"There they are! Let's get them!"

Ciel and Alois turned in time to see a purple haired boy, maybe a few years older than them, and a white haired man, most likely older than the purple haired boy.

The boy got in their faces, looking ready to fight. "We'll get you for yesterday!"

Ciel only stared with wide eyes at them. Alois simply stared and blinked.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Alois asked. "And why are you trying to attack us?"

"Soma! Hold on!" called the white haired man. "I don't think their the people we're looking for."

"What makes you say that? You're not afraid to fight are you?" The boy grabbed his skateboard.

Ciel backed away. _What's he going to do? Hit us over the head with that thing?_

"No, that's not it. They're not Reapers though." The white haired man pointed at the black skull pin attached to Ciel's purple T-shirt.

The boy stayed silent for a moment.

Alois could only stare as the purple haired boy agitated Ciel with a bone crushing hug.

"I'm sorry!" cried the boy. "We mistook you for someone else!"

Ciel squirmed. "Hey! Let go of me bastard!"

The white haired man scratched the back of his head. "I'm sorry," he offered his hand to Alois, "my name is Agni." Alois accepted it. "My name is Alois. And my partner over there," Alois pointed at Ciel, "is Ciel."

After enough wriggling, Ciel managed to break free. The purple haired boy smiled brightly. He pointed to himself with his thumb and declared "And my name's Soma!"

Agni bowed "We're sorry, we confused you for some other people."

"Oh? And who were we mistaken for?" Alois still kept that amused sense to him.

"_Reapers."_

_

* * *

_**Authors ramblings: **7 pages. Damn this was long. And I kept listening to The Offspring while typing this -is listening to Have you ever by The Offspring-

_**Review this story. You have 10 minutes, fail and face erasure.**_

_**-Strawhat-Alchemist (I is Game Master?)**_

**Preview for next chapter:**

He crossed his arms in a scolding manner, though he didn't seem angry. It had more of a _'I can't believe you did that'_ feel to it. "You have to learn how to act around people. You can't just shut yourself in you know."


	6. Twister

**Authors ramblings: **What's hip happening you son of a bitch!

**Rhyme**: I think she means hi.

**Me**: Or maybe you're just-

**Me & 777 (pronounced Triple Seven)**: High!

**777**: Oh snap.

**Random Reaper**: That was stupid.

**Random clip from some show/movie**: It was stupid but it was also theater.

That's what happens when I watch D. Gray-man abridged. Anyway, on with the story.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything. Now get on reading zetta 000's!

* * *

A tall man with sharp features walked away from the complex of buildings. He carried his school bag over his shoulder as he walked, not caring if his uniform was dirtied. He had been in deep thought ever since he had seen what happened to the boy. _Maybe I can plead with the higher ups-_

"Hey! Sebastian!" his teacher called as he left. Sebastian turned around, sangria colored eyes focusing on the one who had snapped him from his thoughts. "Yes?"

"You're friends with Ciel Phantomhive, right?" he asked.

_Friends? Well, I suppose in those instances where he decided he didn't **have** to hate me... _"Yes, why do you ask?" Sebastian said with a smile.

Said teacher scratched the back of his head. "He missed school today, I was wondering if you could possibly take his home work to him."

Sebastian took the papers from his teacher. "I'll see what I can do," he said with a smile never leaving his face.

He turned around and walked towards the Udagawa back streets. He found a nearby dumpster and threw the papers away. The black haired man stood in front of CAT's mural, looking at all the colors. Even though they seemed as if they would never work together, the artist had made it so they blended nicely. Right in the middle of it was the face of a cat, two hands above it. The cat had a star for it's left eye, a cross for the other.

_Dear lord that man is arrogant. He may be CAT and all but he doesn't have to splatter a cat on every one of his works. I'd say something if I didn't think the cat held it's own certain charm to it..._ Sebastian thought, admiring the black and white feline.

His eyes traveled down the art work and landed on a bouquet of assorted flowers on the ground. He had placed them there the day before. A deep frown replaced his smile as he knelt down. He ground his teeth together. "I'm sorry I couldn't stop him..."

"I'm sorry, Ciel."

**

* * *

**

"Reapers?"

Soma nodded. "A pair of these guys -or at least I think they were guys- attacked us. They sent some of those Noise after us. We didn't get a good look at their faces though. We didn't even see them, aside from their black wings."

Ciel could feel his irritation rising again. "So then, why'd you attack us?"

"Players and Reapers can't be scanned." Soma pointed to his black skull pin. "Not as long as Players have their player pins."

"Player pin?"

"The pin with the skull design," Agni said. "I'm not sure why Reapers can't be scanned, but Players can't be as long as they hold onto these."

"Were you just going to go around attacking those you couldn't scan?" Ciel tried his hardest not to yell. Honestly, that was pure idiocy.

"..." Soma remained quiet. He scratched the back of his head as he let out a exultant laugh. "I guess that was a pretty dumb idea!" he beamed.

"S-Soma..." Agni was at a loss for words and dead panned his partner.

"Anyway," Alois began, "I'm going to take a wild guess here and say you're also players?" He flipped a few strands of his blond hair back.

"Yeah," Soma answered. "I never would have though this would happen after we died though. I guess I was expecting something a little more... Calm."

Agni nodded in agreement. "But I suppose we should be lucky to have a chance at a second chance..."

"Yeah, and I got the best partner here! That's double win!" Soma cheered.

Agni blushed, embarrassed at the praise. "I-I suppose... B-But I think that as compensation for attacking you earlier, we should help you out. Do you know how to use your phones?"

"We don't -more like can't- get calls, nor can we send messages. All we can do with our phones is check the mission mails. Why? Do they have another use?" Alois asked. He had a feeling he would being doing all the talking.

"Ah, we played around with our phones and found somethings-" Agni was cut off by -an ever energetic- Soma. "Wait, you mean you aren't using yours? It's like you want to lose this game!"

"Oh? Why is that?" Alois stated calmly, or at least tried.

"It's fine. If you have any questions about things, it'd be no trouble to answer. Even if we're against each other, it's best to help others," Agni said with a kind smile.

"Hm, then about the phone-"

"Yeah, you can use it to check out the abilities of pins. Scan the back and a message explaining the pins and how to use them should come up," Soma said, cutting Alois off. "You can pick out pins too."

"Pick out pins?"

"Yes. Although you will most likely gather more than just six pins, you are only allowed to use six for battle." Agni motioned towards the pins Ciel wore. Currently, he pinned the 'Ice Blow' pin, the slashing pin, the flame pin, the telekinesis pin, and the player pin onto his shirt."As such only pins that you scan and select will activate in battle, even if you wear other pins. The player pin itself doesn't count, so you don't have to count it as a battle pin."

_That's good to know. Now I don't have to guess what each one does._ Ciel fiddled with the pins he wore.

"I see... So, do you know anything about the game?" Alois asked, not hesitating.

"Unfortunately, no," Agni said with a sigh. "All we know is that we must survive for the next seven days."

Ciel almost scoffed. _Seven days? With blond-y boy? Though I have to admit I pity the white haired one. To put up with the purple haired one must be a handful._

"And of course that a new mission is assigned every day," Soma said. "The G.M sends 'em."

"And if we fail, we're erased..." The blond haired boy said it slowly and somberly. _Claude..._

Ciel, being the socialite he was, stayed quiet, not really wanting to converse with anyone. "I take it you didn't make it to ten-four?" Alois inquired after a long silence.

"No, the Reapers got in our way. I can't remember much but a man wearing a long coat." Soma placed a thoughtful look on his face. He tapped a finger on his chin, "Which is why we were confused. We didn't even make it past the scramble crossing yesterday. We were stuck in Molco fighting off Noise."

"Were you two fortunate enough to make it to ten-four yesterday?" Agni asked.

"Yes, and now that you mention we were the only players there yesterday," Alois said. He squinted his eyes, deep in thought. He turned to the blue haired boy. "What do you think, Ciel?"

"..." Ciel kept his mouth shut. Alois huffed and turned back to the others.

"Wait, do you think this means we don't have to do the missions ourselves?" Soma thought aloud. "Hm," said the saner of the two, "I think it's too early to tell yet. Until then, we should do as the missions say."

"That's true," Alois said. "None of us can afford mistakes. So, what's your take on the mission?"

"You mean the cursed sculpture thing?" Soma said in a bored tone. "I was thinking it might mean Hachiko," Agni threw in his two cents on the ordeal.

"I was thinking the same thing," Alois tapped his foot. "But what is the curse exactly?"

"You got me." The purple haired boy stood on his skate board. "What do you think blue-y?"

"I think," Ciel started, "that we have no reason to trust you people." Ciel looked them both in the eyes. The white haired man looked surprised for a second before replacing it with a slightly panicked look. Soma blinked a few times. A huge grin then spread on his face.

"I guess that's only seasonable after we attacked you and all," he responded happily.

A heavy silence fell upon the group. Ciel resisted the urge to face-palm. _I really hope that he's kidding..._ "Uh, I think you mean 'reasonable', Soma," Agni corrected.

_Is no one in this game sane?_ Ciel kept his gaze on the pair. _Either way, I have enough baggage with this kid. I don't need two more weighing me down._

Soma searched around in the pockets of his baggy black pants. He took something out and shoved it into Ciel's hand.

Ciel looked down at his hand. There was a green pin with a orange soda can in the middle of it. _A... A soda pin?_

"You know how sometimes you get tired in battles?" Soma asked, not letting Ciel answer. "Well, it's because in battle, you're one life. One can't be without the other."

"...And why should I trust this pin? How do I know you aren't Reapers putting on an act and trying to erase us?" Ciel asked. _Maybe I'm just mad with everything that's happened... But I don't need more people around me._

"I guess we're not getting through to you, huh? All right, we'll get out of your hair. Let's go, Agni." Soma began skating away, Agni jogging to catch up to him.

Alois turned to Ciel. He crossed his arms in a scolding manner, though he didn't seem angry. It had more of a _'I can't believe you did that'_ feel to it. "You have to learn how to act around people. You can't just shut yourself in you know."

Ciel made a _"Tch"_ sound. "Other people just hold me back. I can do fine on my own, or at least I would be able to if it weren't mandatory for me to have a damn partner. I'm only staying with you so I can survive."

_Hard to believe he had such a huge amount of imagination..._ Alois sighed. "Do you honestly believe that? Didn't you have any friends when you were alive?"

Ciel distinctly remembered a boy, perfect face, piercing wine colored eyes, and hair blacker than any raven. He couldn't remember him perfectly, only certain traits.

"Friends? I can't remember, but even so, I had no such things." Ciel walked ahead. "Come on, we have to finish this damn mission."

Alois shook his head and followed after Ciel. _Honestly,_ Alois thought. _Exactly why did you want to __save him? I admit he's not a bad person, and I don't hate him. But, I can't see what you saw in him. You and your little crushes. I guess I'll ask you once this is over, you owe me one after all._

_Right, Sebastian?_

_

* * *

_**Authors ramblings:** Dun dun DUN! I have you given you a small dosage of Sebastian. Remember: When ever taking a dosage of Sebastian, be careful. Side affects include: Nose bleed, fainting, squeeling, and the urge to write fan fiction.

**Sho:** SOH-CAH-TOA! You zetta sons of digits better leave a review or you'll be CRUNCHED and added to the heap!

**Preview for the next chapter:**

Ciel stopped at the sight of a man in red. _That must mean..._ Alois walked ahead and flinched after making contact with the wall. "Another damn wall!"

The man in red approached them. "Want past this wall? Lift the statue's curse."


	7. The One Star

**Random side note**: I'm thinking of re-writing the first chapter. I won't change it too much. Also, I'll be changing the names of some chapters. And I will be using characters from both the manga and anime. (Like Doll, or Joker. Probably not Beast... It depends.)

Also, this chapter was 10 pages... I think that's the most I've ever written for any story.

**Disclaimer**: Anyone who tries to sue me, will end up like Alois in episode 7 because I OWN NOTHING.

* * *

Ciel walked ahead, heading towards that Hachiko statue. _One has to wonder why the hell they would build a statue of a dog,_ he thought. Alois went along walking behind him, humming happily.

Ciel stopped at the sight of a man in red. _That must mean..._ Alois, his eyes being closed as he happily hummed and flinched after making contact with a wall. "Another damn invisible wall!"

"Want past this wall? Lift the statue's curse," said the man.

_But isn't that today's mission?_ Ciel looked around for any signs of a statue.

"We can't do that, Hachiko is past this wall," Alois whined. He twirled around in a circle (why he did that, Ciel didn't want to know).

"Hey... What about that giant head statue?" Ciel asked. He pointed to a large head shaped stone statue placed on a short, wide pedestal, trimmed bushes surrounding the confines of a short wall around the statue. The grass surrounding it had left green markings on the lower part of it.

"Hm?" Alois stopped his twirling, his long coat swaying to a stop. He looked over to the stone statue. "Oh, that? That's Moyai."

Ciel gave him a skeptical look. "As in the Easter Island statues? Why on Earth is there one in Shibuya?"

"No, not Moai. Moyai, with a "Y" in it." Alois explained. "Though, I never really bothered to wonder where it came from..."

Ciel walked over to the statue, over hearing something a man was talking to himself. "...C'mon. ...You can tell me. ...Something on your mind?" He gave him a questioning look (not that the man would see it). _That guy... Who is he talking to?_

"...Tell me what's ailing you. ...We're not all made of stone."

"..." Ciel could only stare, that guy has lost his mind. "Ciel," a teasing voice came. "I don't mind if you love listening to crazy people, but we have other things to do."

Ciel turned to the blond haired boy. "So then? What should we do?"

"Hmm," Alois threw his player pin up in the air, catching it before it midair. "Maybe we should try scanning the area?"

"I thought that was only for reading minds?" He almost slapped himself for saying that. _Look at me. Saying such things... Even if it is true._

"Well it doesn't hurt to scan, just to make sure. Also, one you make a pact the Noise symbols are no longer visible by the naked eye. You have to scan to see them." Alois grabbed his pin. "Why not try?"

"I guess..." Ciel grasped the pin firmly, clearing his mind of all bothersome thoughts. Everything was colored a hue of sapphire, ruby red Noise symbols floating about, and the thoughts of the crazy man from earlier were clear.

"_Oh, poor Mr. Moyai... You're feeling stuck between a rock and a hard place, I can tell. People put you up on a pedestal, birds poop on you... What a life."_

Next to the mans thoughts he noticed two bright yellow-orange colored Noise symbols. They were long but didn't seem to represent any sort of animal. It's design was a bunch of intricate black lines, the very top looking like an upside down heart. The lower half looked a bit like a lobster, but that was his speculation after moments of staring.

Ciel loosened the grip on his player pin, his previous thoughts all flooding back into his mind. _There were plenty of those red ones, but only two orange ones. That might be the key to this thing._

Alois was sitting on the floor playing with his cell phone. He jumped a bit when he realized Ciel was no longer scanning, but looking at him. He quickly hid his phone. "So, did you see anything interesting?"

_Strange..._ "Yeah. Yellow-orange Noise symbols. They were floating around the Moyai statue, not moving away from it." He pinned the player pin onto his shirt.

"Yellow-orange? How many?"

"Two."

Alois stood up using his hands to help him get up. "If they were bothering that statue, maybe that's it's curse? If we erase the Noise maybe he'll clear the wall."

"Good points." Ciel attached the Spider Link pin onto his shirt. Alois took his pin and scanned the area.

He found himself facing a gray wolf with a blue tail that looked like a tattoo. He ran the Spider Link pin by his phone quickly. The information read: _**"Focus on an enemy to target. A shock of lighting will strike. Can be used on multiple enemies at once."**_

_It's worth a shot._ He put his hands by his head, focusing only on the wolf. It ran towards him, ready to take a bite out of his being. Before it's fangs could get a hold of the blue haired boy the wolf was struck by lighting, disappearing into static,

He was out of the fight and back next to Alois. "One more to go." He scanned the area once more, taking on the second symbol.

Alois looked to his left. "Another wolf?" He grabbed his cell phone, pressing buttons that appeared on his screen. The display was a flow chart of arrows. At some point, the small array would go in three different directions. One up, one straight, and one down. Each time he pressed one an item like a traffic cone or bicycle would fall on said enemy. At the end of each one was a number and when pressed would drop a larger item. Like a car, or a vending machine.

He pressed the buttons, dropping various items on the Noise. It ran past him at a fast pace. He quickly turned to his left where he dropped a car on the wolf. It disappeared into static and dropped a pin.

He was next to Ciel again. The man in red remained silent for a while. "Objective met, wall clear!" He turned, his black wings in plain sight, as he walked away.

Alois took the pin and handed to Ciel. He inspected the pin, feigning boredom. _A 5,000 yen pin..._

"It seems the Moyai was possessed by the Noise." Alois closed his phone and shoved it into his back pocket. "If that was the curse, maybe Hachiko is possessed too."

"We freed the cursed sculpture, doesn't that mean we cleared the mission?" Ciel asked sternly.

Alois shook his head, He showed his hand to Ciel. "That was just to get across the wall. See? My clock's still ticking."

"Right. We should go find that Hachiko thing and get this over with." Ciel crossed his arms, tapping his right finger against his left arm.

He over heard the same man from earlier say something else. "...Oh. ...You're all better now! ...I'm so glad."

A freaked out look found it's way to Ciel's usually serious face. _He can tell? I suppose that's impressive... In a way._

"...Hey. ...Hachiko seems down lately. ...Don't you think?"

_I wonder if that means Hachiko actually is cursed._ "Come on, Ciel. We have thirty-four minutes left!" Alois called from up ahead. He waved at his partner to hurry.

He let out a tired sigh, forcing himself to walk to Hachiko.

* * *

"..." A man with wavy white (bordering on light gray) hair looked down on the pair like a hawk ready to claim it's prey. "That blond haired boy..." he spoke with an air of arrogance. "Hmph. Erasing him seems easy enough..." He took a pudding cup and squished it in his hand. "And if I'm right, he's my ticket to a promotion."

* * *

Ciel and Alois walked towards the plaza. He spotted the train station's store and to the far right. _The dog statue. Must be Hachiko._

"We made it, and with just enough time spare." Alois looked around at the various people. Two girls in school uniforms sat on the left of Hachiko's pedestal chatting while a man danced with a boom box blasting music on the right side.

"Okay!" Alois exclaimed. "Let's lift the curse!" He skipped on over to Hachiko.

Ciel walked behind him, wondering how he had gotten such an...eccentric partner. "Right. How do you suppose we do that?"

"Well, uh..." The blue eyed boy pondered over the idea. "Maybe it's possessed by Noise? Kinda like the Moyai...yeah!"

Ciel went on ahead to Hachiko. _He's clueless. This is why I can't count on other people. ...They're all clueless._

"I guess I'll scan this time," Alois said sounding completely exhausted. He took the pin in hand. _Focus..._

"_If I have to marry, then CAT's definitely the one. That uncompromising style, those brilliant ideas! Now I just have to hope he's actually a man."_

Alois resisted the urge to laugh (not that he could while he was scanning). _CAT? That guy getting married? Hah. That's a laugh._

He moved his focus over to Hachiko. _What the..._

He let go of the pin. "So, did you see anything?" Ciel asked. He was pressing buttons on his phone and looking through his contacts. _Who the hell is Sebastian, and why do I have his number on speed dial?_

"No Noise were around the statue." Alois put the player pin back on his coat. "Maybe this isn't the statue we needed after all..."

_Hm,_ Ciel closed his phone with a _snap_. _Could we have gotten the wrong statue? This seems to be a pretty big city... But how many statues could they possibly have?_

"Huh? Hey, look, Ciel!"

_Damn it... We don't have the time to go statue hunting... _Ciel went on thinking, not giving much attention to things around him.

Alois,clearly annoyed at his partners behavior, cleared his throat. "EARTH TO CIEL!"

He snapped out of his thoughts. "What!"

"I don't know if I'm being weird," he began. _It's a little late for that, _Ciel thought. "But it feels like something's wrong with Hachiko."

"Like what?" he asked impatiently. _If we have to go hunting for another statue we don't have time to waste._

"I'm not sure, but it looks different than from the last time I saw it at Hachi Fest." He inspected the statue from afar.

"Let's take a closer look." They stood in front of the statue, glancing at it from top to bottom.

"Something is off... When I saw him at Hachi Fest, Hachiko wasn't like this." Alois continued to stare at the statue, almost like he expected something to happen if he stared long enough.

"What in the world is Hachi Fest?" Ciel asked out of boredom.

Alois's eyes seemed to light up at the question. _Crap, I kind of regret asking now,_ Ciel thought.

"It's this festival where you touch Hachiko for good luck!" he responded jubilantly. He was standing behind Hachiko at this point. "If you touch the right place in the right way, your wishes come true."

"Wow. Amazing." Ciel never was one for superstitious things.

"It is. Each time, the place you have to touch is different. But if you get it wrong..." Alois had paused for dramatic effect.

Ciel rolled his eyes. "...You explode?"

"You get cursed!" Alois said it, imitating a ghost's voice.

"Sounds a bit extreme for a dog statue... So, what do you think about this curse?" Ciel blocked the sun out of his eyes.

"I'm not sure... But I'm sure something's off." Alois continued to have a staring contest with the monument.

_Sure, just take your time. We've got so much of it. _Ciel got closer to the statue, to the point he was face to face with it.

The man from the Moyai appeared. "Oh Hachiko... If only I could polish away your weary heart..."

_What is it with this guy and statues?_ Ciel crossed his arms.

"Hey, maybe we should try that!" Alois took a handkerchief from his pocket.

"Try what?" Alois shook his head. "Polish the statue obviously!"

"...You're kidding." The blue haired boy only watched as his partner began to polish away. "Nope! It's worth a shot, right?"

"Isn't that going to cause a scene?" Ciel watched the blond polishing the dogs head.

"So what? No one can see us, and even if they can what does it matter if they do?" Alois polished behind the dogs ear.

_Yeah. So what if they see us petting a piece of ROCK. _He sighed, "I guess since we have no other leads..." Ciel took the cloth he used to wipe down his cell phone and began to polish along side Alois. _I can't believe I've been reduced to being a janitor..._

After a good ten minutes of cleaning, the statue was now a light gray with blue markings down it's legs.

"Grr..."

"Huh? Are you making animals noises, Ciel? What weird hobbies you have..."

"It wasn't me!" Ciel defended. _Does he think I'm crazy or something?_

"GRRRRR..."

Alois sighed. "I know you must hate this kind of labor but, stop growling and polish, Ciel."

Ciel glared at the boy. "I already told you I'm not growling!"

They jumped back when a wolf Noise jumped out of the statue and attacked.

Ciel found himself facing three gray wolves. _Damn things._ He focused on all three, and after making them his targets. He opened his eyes and let lighting strike them all.

Alois, in the other zone (as the man in red had called it), quickly pressed the buttons his phone. _My thumbs will be sore by the end of this week..._

Ciel slashed at one of the wolves, noticing one of them had already been erased. As soon as there was only one left he made an icicle appear from under it, erasing the final Noise.

Ciel, no longer in the fighting zone, picked a 5,000 yen pin off the ground. He placed it in his pocket and noted the timer was gone from his hand. "I guess we're done with today's mission."

"Hey, Ciel," Alois watched all the people passing, friends walking with friends, talking and laughing.

"What is it?" Ciel looked through his cell phone and found a picture of a man with black hair. The right side of is face had longer strands of hair than his the ones on his left. One strand of hair went down to just above his nose. His skin looked like porcelain, it contrasted with his dark black hair. _Why the hell do I have pictures of some guy in my phone...?_

"You said earlier that friends aren't necessary. That you didn't have them, right?" Alois opened his phone, staring at it contently. "But think about it, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't have noticed what was wrong with Hachiko."

Ciel was ready to retort but didn't know what to say. _He's right. Damn._

"You can't really go on in this world alone." The happy look on the blond's face had dropped. "People aren't mean to work like that."

Ciel scoffed. _Maybe some people aren't but I am. I could care less about others._

"Ugh! You two!" came a flamboyant voice behind them.

The pair turned to face the person. "Wh-What?" Alois and Ciel both looked a bit disturbed and shocked. _I-Is that a man or a woman? I really pray to God it's a woman..._

"Who are you?" Ciel asked seriously.

"My name? My name is Grelle Sutcliff~ I'm a Reaper~" he said in a sing song voice. Even though it was in a feminine tone, Ciel could tell that was most definitely not a woman.

Grelle smiled, showing off white sharp teeth. He ran a gloved hand through his long red hair. He wore a long red coat, though his the cloth that should have been on his shoulders were down to his elbows. Grelle wore a white dress shirt that looked like it would be worn by a butler and a gray vest over it. He also wore a pair of black pants that Ciel really wished weren't so tight on the man.

_A Reaper? And he's wearing a long coat..._ Ciel lost his train of thought when he heard the Reaper shriek like a girl. "Anyway, you two, why are you alive?" he asked (it sounded a lot more like whining though).

Alois flicked a strand of blond hair from his eyes. "Because we've been clearing our missions and haven't been erased, obviously."

"My Noise should have erased you yesterday! You owe me a promotion, Alois!" Grelle complained. He stroked one of his black wings.

Alois flinched. _Idiot! Don't call me by my name! _Ciel turned to his partner. _How does he know his name? More importantly, what was with that reaction?_

"What's wrong? Too spooked to answer?~" Grelle snapped his fingers making Noise symbols appear. "Maybe this'll wake you up!"

They were both charged into a battle.

Ciel looked to his left seeing two wolf Noise and to his right a porcupine. It's fur was gray and the spikes were black and red, looking like three dimensional tattoos.

Alois cursed. _These Noise are stronger than the usual ones... Be careful, Ciel._

"Agh!" Ciel slashed at the annoying wolf, noticing that after a few slashes it'd be gone, yet it looked just fine. He grabbed his flame pin and quickly made a trail between him and a charging wolf. _It's still not gone?_ Using the levitation pin he picked up a car and flung it at the wolf. One of the wolves disappeared, the other attacking him from behind. Ciel picked himself up.

The porcupine lifted it's spikes up, launching them into the sky. They flew down onto Ciel landing around him. _Did it miss? No..._ They lightly flashed before exploding into smaller shards.

He let out a cry in pain. His breathing had gotten heavy and he noticed he had slowed down.

Alois placed his hands on his knees. _We're... _He quickly attacked the other wolf, making it disappear. _Just the porcupine... Come on!_

He took his phone and continued to attack the porcupine, trying to avoid the spikes falling around him.

Ciel took the soda can pin. _He said to use it when we're tired in battle... _He pressed the pin. He blinked in confusion when a can of soda appeared in his hand. _...What the hell? I need help, not a snack!_ He opened the can. "I guess I might as well..." He quickly gulped down the drink, feeling suddenly energized.

He focused on the porcupine, targeting it. It was shocked multiple times but still hadn't disappeared. He ran towards it and slashed at it upwards. He made a trail of fire across it. _Why is it taking longer than usual?_ He slashed upwards, an icicle appearing and hitting the porcupine from under, finally erasing it.

As the battle had finally ended he took time to catch his breath. "Wh-What was with that Noise?"

"Did you think that was tough?~" Grelle was standing, trying to look sexy, with one foot in the air and biting his nail. "These next Noise will be killer!" Two more symbols appeared.

_No... Damn. I can't keep this up. I've only got one chance._ He readied himself.

"Hmm?" Grelle looked over at the blue haired teen.

_I have to take her- him out!_ He was readying himself when the man spoke. "Please tell me you're not planning on fighting me." He grabbed a chainsaw from behind him with a laugh. "Are you dumb? You can't win against a Reaper!" He started his chainsaw. "But I'll fight you, I was getting bored anyway." He snapped his fingers again, this time the Noise disappeared.

_He erased his own Noise?_ Ciel grabbed his levitation pin tightly.

"What? You look surprised." Grelle looked at his chain saw admiringly.

"Aren't the Noise on your side?"

Grelle let out a disgusted sound. "No! Disgusting! Don't group us together! As the queen of fruit, such a thing is an insult to me and my soul mate! They're pawns, like you players."

_Rrgh... I can't let this bratty man-woman win! But can I stop him? I have no idea how strong he is..._ "Ciel!" a voice cut through his thoughts. Alois gripped his arm. "Don't be stupid! You'll get us erased! He'll erase you in a second!" Ciel ripped his arm away from the blond. "Hmph."

"You're giving up? Boring. You shouldn't get a ladies hopes up like that." Grelle lifted his chain saw. "Though maybe I should just finish the job!" Ciel could only stare. _Oh crap! I'm going to get us both erased... Damn!_ "...But I can't." _Huh?_ "Well, this is a pickle..." Grelle said.

"Oh! I know!" Grelle exclaimed. "I'll give you a special challenge, and if you pull it off, I'll release you from this game!"

"...Really?" Ciel asked skeptically.

"Of course! I tell no lies!" Grelle said with a pout.

_A ticket out of this hell... This idiotic game..._ Ciel opened his mouth to answer but was cut off by Alois. "Ciel! Don't listen!

"Shut it, if you will. Now are you in or are you out?" Grelle asked seriously.

"..." Ciel was hesitant to answer. "I'm in." Alois ground his teeth. "Ciel!" Grelle pointed his chainsaw at the teen. "'Atta boy! Oh, and if you fail, I erase you."

"What?"

"Don't worry! The rules are very simple! You have one minute..." Grelle pointed to the blond. "To erase that boy."

"What? Erase him?" Ciel clenched his fists. _Wouldn't that technically be like **killing** someone?_

"Just pretend you're erasing Noise!" Grelle coaxed.

"W-Wait!" Ciel cast his gaze to his pins. _He's asking me to kill someone... I can't do that but if I don't..._

"Ciel..." Alois still seemed to be tired out from the earlier fight.

"30 seconds~" Ciel still didn't budge. "The how about I motivate you? What if I said he was a Reaper? Spying for us?"

"What?" Ciel was pushed out of the way by Alois. "What the hell are you saying?" Alois glared at the red haired man. "Stop lying!"

"Oh, but like I said, I tell no lies!" Grelle said with a wicked smile. "So, what will you do?"

"...Your phone... You always stare at your phone..."

Alois's eyes widened. "Ciel! I... I was just..."

"Just what?" Ciel asked, judging from his tone though, he probably wasn't looking for an answer.

"10 seconds~ I don't see why you're hesitating. Save yourself, screw everybody else, right?"

"D-Don't Ciel... Please don't kill me..." Alois pleaded.

"I have to..."

He moved his hand outwards towards his partner, telekinesis kicking in. Alois could feel something grasped around his neck, choking the air out of him. He shut his eyes. _Claude..._

_I'm sorry, Claude._

_

* * *

_**Authors ramblings:** If you've played TWEWY this is basically what happens the second day. The first week is going to be very similar to the one in TWEWY. I'm probably going to be using the same missions with the exception of a few. It'll be the same, yet different.

**Alois: Review so I don't get killed... Again?**

**Ciel: Or just review.  
**

**Neku: Review so Joshua doesn't act like a prick.**

**Joshua: Hee-hee. Shut up and walk dear.**

**Preview for the next chapter:**

Ciel looked around. Everything was dark, but he knew he was indoors. Where the hell was he?

"You were tricked. Apologize to the poor kid," Bard said.


	8. Despair

Authors ramblings: Did anyone ask for moar Sebastian? No? Well you got it anyway. Enjoy. (And if there are mistakes, feel free to tell me. I was watching Nostalgia Critic while typing this...)

**Story info:** **The following spellings will be used for my story, and yes they are the official spellings for the character's names as Yana herself spelled them that way in English in the Japanese character book. Grelle, Baldroy, and Mey-Rin.**

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing you zetta sons of digits!

* * *

Sebastian walked casually out of the school, making sure to be the first to leave the grounds. He briskly walked, making sure to be quick while not looking too suspicious, towards the Udagawa back streets.

He found himself, for the third time this week, in front of Ciel Phantomhive's little memorial. He let out a tired sigh. _First he kills him and now this..._ "Hey! You! Aren't you-"

Sebastian turned around, finding himself facing a Reaper. The Reaper wore a black hooded jacket with white Noise markings down the sides and green-gray pants. Sebastian gave the Reaper an arrogant smile. "When a Reaper confronts someone, wouldn't it be wise of him to be more careful? Especially when it's in the RG?" He grabbed the Reaper, knowing that the only people around that had the possibility of seeing the two stayed out front.

He kneed the Reaper in the groin. Said Reaper let out a noise that Sebastian could only describe as a hiss mixed with a little girl's cry. The Reaper fell to the ground, holding his "area" in pain. He disappeared from site as he transferred over to the UG.

"Oh~ Sebas-chan~ How bad of you, attacking a your former comrade!" came an all too happy and feminine voice Sebastian loathed to hear. He blatantly gave a disgusted shiver at the voice. He turned, not that he needed to face this particular person in order to know whose voice it was. "What are you doing here, Grelle?"

* * *

It was cold and pitch dark. There was a faint smell of fattening fast food in the air accompanied by the obnoxious, overpowering scent of an overuse of mens body spray.

_Ugh, where am I?_ He lifted himself off the cold concrete floor. Ciel looked around. Everything was dark, but he knew he was indoors. Where the hell was he?

_Oh crap! The kid!_ He took a look around (not that he could see anything). Ciel felt a sense of guilt come over him. _He's gone... Because of me._

_~Flashback~_

Slowly, Alois felt himself being lifted off the ground and a tight grip around his neck. Ciel was at least five feet away from him, but his telekinesis was strong.

_He's strong... Using telekinesis out of battle takes strength... _Alois clenched his eyes shut. _I thought we could save those people... _He could feel himself getting light headed. If he could, he'd laugh at the irony. One of the people he wanted to save was killing him. _Sebastian... You better make it work... I'm sorry, Claude._

_~End Flashback~_

"..." Ciel didn't know what to think. "I need to get out of here," he said to himself. "Where's the exit?" He felt around on his shirt for his flame pin. _If I use this pin for light..._ He grabbed it and attempted to make a flame with no result. "Huh?" _It doesn't work. I guess I'll just have to feel my way out._

He walked upwards only to feel his lower body hit a few metallic bars. _A fence? In a building?_ He walked along the fence, grabbing it with his hand and following along.

He stopped in his tracks after hearing the sound of boots clacking against the ground. _Footsteps? Somebody's coming this way..._

"It's damn dark... Where the hell am I?" came a whiny voice. "If only I could find some light..."

"Show yourself!" Ciel called. He took his slashing pin in hand.

"Holy chocolate coated cherries!" a startled voice yelped.

Ciel was taken aback. "You?"

There was a short silence between them. "C-Ciel? You scared the crap out of me!"

"R-Right. Sorry," Ciel answered, not knowing what else to say. "Anyway, where were you?"

He couldn't see the others face but could tell he was smiling. "I was looking for a way out. I think I tripped like a dozen times..."

"You think my pin could work to light it up?" Ciel grabbed the flame pin again. Alois gave a small laugh. "They only work when battling Noise, and if they worked out of battle you'd more likely burn the place down."

"Right." Ciel put the pins on his shirt again. "Well, there are a few exceptions," Alois added.

_Like psychokinesis..._ Ciel thought. "W-well... It's dark." _Talk about being Captain Obvious,_ Ciel thought while mentally smacking himself. "We should be careful."

"I already found the exit," Alois said.

"Then why are you-"

"I'm not gonna just leave you," Alois said in the most serious voice he could muster. "We're partners. I can't just leave you behind. You might get erased." Alois took his phone out, using the light to create some light. "We should get going."

"Alright... Don't do anything dumb like wander off," Ciel said.

Alois gave him a surprised looked. His partner was showing _concern_. He hadn't thought the day would come. He replaced his surprise with a smirk. "Excuse me? Which one of us has been acting dumb exactly?"

Ciel let out a sigh.

_~Flashback~_

"What are you waiting for?" Grelle sang. "Just do what comes naturally!~" Grelle did small spin with his chain saw.

Grelle's eyes lit up at the sight of a near death (well, another death) Alois. "Now, let's see some beautifully deadly results~"

"Hey! That's enough!" came a gruff voice behind the Reaper.

"Huh?" Grelle frowned at the sight of the man who had stopped him. His slightly tanned skin and dark goldenrod colored hair caught Grelle's eyes. "Who are you?"

Baldroy stood there, blue eyes focused on the trio, a hand behind his neck. "Ah-ah-ah, you gotta play by the rules." His other hand was shoved in his pocket, his watch still visible. "Making "erase your partner" the mission is against the rules. As a Reaper you should know."

"It is?" Ciel glared at the red headed man.

"I know that," Grelle answered. "I'm a Reaper after all! I was just having some fun!"

"What! So you were lying?" Ciel had released his telekinesis grip on Alois. The blond dropped to the ground on his hands and knees, hands loosely around his neck as he tried to catch his breath.

"I never lied!" Grelle protested. "I said "What if" I never said he was a Reaper or that he was a spy!" He pointed at Ciel. "It was because you didn't trust him and believed me that you were both almost erased.

Bard sighed. "One mission per day is the rule and only the Game Master can assign and pick missions."

"I know that too! I'm not some dumb broad!" Grelle said in fake dejection. "But last I checked I'm not Game Master -well not yet anyway- and that means technically it wasn't really a mission." He smiled as if he knew it all and said "Which means I didn't break any rules."

Bard lit up a cigarette. He inhaled the sinfully delicious smoke before exhaling it in the red head's direction. He pointed his cigarette at him, "If that's it then start walkin'. Your work's done for the day."

Grelle frowned. "Hmph. For a Player, you do know an awful lot about our rules."

"So you DID lie either way!" Ciel argued.

"I did not!" Grelle whined. He smiled, sharp teeth showing. "Technically, if you're erased you're no longer in the game. That's letting you out if the game, isn't it?" He began walking away. "You all ruined my fun! I guess I should call it a day."

He looked over to the blond, who had finally caught his breath, and winked. "We can play some other time~"

Bard made sure the Reaper had left before turning his attention back to the two teens. Alois, while rubbing his neck, thanked the man in a raspy voice. "We owe you one Mister..."

"My name's Baldroy. Just call me Bard," he said cheerfully. He managed to speak without removing the cigarette from his mouth, not caring that it brushed with the stubble on his chin.

"You're... You're not a Player, are you?" Ciel asked. His arms were crossed as he kept his focus on the man.

"What makes you say that?" Bard looked at his watch. _Hmm, I've got a lot of time on my hands._

"You don't have a Player pin and you managed to scare off that Reaper back then. I doubt someone so... Someone like that Reaper would be frightened by a mere Player." Ciel felt a smirk almost forming on his lips at the mans dumbfound expression.

Bard blinked a few times before giving a small smile. "You're a sharp one kid. Just think of me as sort of...a Guardian. I watch the game to make sure shady types don't bend the rules."

Ciel growled. "That damn Reaper tricked us."

"I think you mean she-"

"He," Alois interrupted. "It was a he."

Bard blinked in surprise. "Really?" The boys nodded. "Huh... Well then, I think you mean he tricked YOU." He lazily pointed his cigarette towards Ciel. Ciel remained quiet, not bothering to make a remark.

"You ignored the kid, fell into a trap, and nearly killed him for good." Bard petted the blond on the head. He still seemed a bit shaken by what had happened. "If you think you can do everything yourself, you're in for some lessons to be learned the hard way."

Ciel continued to listen. Usually he'd have some smart ass comment or retort, but nothing. "Now!" came the rough voice. "Apologize to the young boy."

"Excuse me?" Ciel said, not believing he had really been told that.

"Hard feelings will get you nowhere. You're a team, teamwork is a part of it." Bard kept a nonchalant tone to him as he spoke. "Do you wanna survive the game, or not?"

The boys kept quiet for a while, Alois no longer looking so shaken. Ciel looked over to him. "...I'm sorry."

"...F-Forget it. I'm over it. He practically forced you to do it..." Alois answered. He smiled. "We should just put it behind us."

Bard let out a boisterous laugh. "There! Problem solved!" He looked at the pair with serious gleam in his eyes. "Now listen you two. There's only one way to stay alive in the game here in Shibuya. Trust your partner!"

He pointed at the blue haired boy. "Especially you, Blue."

Ciel raised an eyebrow. _"Blue"? Great. I have a nickname now._

"You know what trust is, right? Partnership is essential to surviving the Game. Alone, you face limitations, but if you partner up, you can burn right through them." Alois was fidgeting with his fingers, feeling Bard's gaze on him. _Damn it Bard. Stop looking at me! If you blow my cover, I swear to God I'll destroy your flamethrower._

"Same goes for when you fight the Noise. You may think you're alone, but you're not. Your partner is the other zone, sharing your energy. You have to sync and share that energy," Bard continued. "You gotta open up. Tell him how you're feeling, that's the fastest way to get something across."

Alois looked to his partner. "He has a point. I know you think I'm annoying, but if we can't get along, we might as well be erased here and now."

"If I could understand anything, I would. I don't even know anything about myself," Ciel looked down at the ground, not wanting to make eye contact with the others. "I don't know anything about this place, I don't know why I was picked for this damn game, I don't know anything. So why the hell should I trust my partner?"

"Sorry to hear it kid. That's tough." Bard threw his cigarette to the ground, squishing it with his foot. "But like it or not, you're both in it for the long run. Trust is all you got."

_~End Flashback~_

"If you felt like that, you coulda said so!" Alois motioned Ciel to follow him, using the cell phone's light to assure they wouldn't trip on anything lying around.. "You should've told me sooner!"

"I'm not one for talking about things like that," Ciel answered. Alois walked Ciel along towards the exit. "Then we got lucky thanks to Bard and his advice. Plus he gave us that pin!" Alois pointed at the white pin on Ciel's shirt.

Ciel looked down to said pin, tilting it upwards. _It doesn't have a design on it. I wonder what it's for._

A familiar tone sounded throughout the confines of wherever the hell they were. Alois, who had flinched a bit at the sound, dropped his phone.

"Hey, you dropped your-"

"AH! Hold on! I'll pick it up!" Alois panicked. Ciel raised an eyebrow. He picked the phone off the ground, giving a confused look at the picture he had set up as the background.

Alois was giving the peace sign while the man next to him gave a stoic, serious expression. The man, probably five or so years older than him, had jet black hair and golden eyes. He wore framed glasses, which only added to how serious he looked. The corners of his lips were up, like he was fighting off a smile.

"Nice photo," Ciel commented. Alois nabbed the phone back. "You looked?" Ciel looked away sheepishly. "The screen was face up."

Alois sighed. "That was my friend. I guess I kinda missed him."

"Wait, so that's what you've been looking at?" Ciel felt like mentally smacking himself and literally smacking Alois. "If you were just looking at a photo the whole time you should have said so instead of-"

"Hey, we should really pay attention to the mission mail. We don't wanna lose any time." Alois gave his full attention to the screen on his phone, avoiding the topic of said friend.

_What's with that reaction? And now that I think about it, back then that Reaper knew his name and said something about a promotion._ Ciel looked to his partner. _But if they were comrades, then why did that Reaper want him erased? Maybe I'm over thinking things..._

"Hey, hurry and read the mission," Alois said. Ciel shook his head and looked at his own phone.

"_**Defeat the master of A-East. You have 360 minutes. Fail, and face erasure.**_

_**-The G.M"**_

"That's a lot of time for on mission." Ciel continued walking along with Alois towards the exit. "What mission could be so difficult that it requires six hours?"

"Who knows? But it does seem to be an awful lot of time." The azure eyed boy marched on towards the exit, his partner following. "Well, we shouldn't worry about it too much." They stepped out onto the sidewalk, blinking a couple of times as the sun hit their eyes.

Ciel noticed a grimace upon his partners face. "What is it?" Alois's frown deepened slightly. "It seems we're here."

"Here? Here were?" Ciel looked up at the building. It read, in giant blue lettering, _'A-East concert center'_. Ciel gave him a bad-tempered look. "You mean we were here all this time?"

Alois pouted. "How was I supposed to know? It was dark inside." Ciel sighed. "I guess you're right. We won't get anywhere until that place is lit, we should see what we can do."

"Ugh, where the hell is he? We gotta rehearse." Ciel looked over to a man standing by the entrance of A-East, hands in his pockets, leaning on the wall with an annoyed look on his face. He ran a hand through blond locks of hair, though the cow lick on his hair remained standing.

_Do all people in Shibuya like talking to themselves? What's that guy grumbling about? _Ciel stiffened when the man looked over to them and smiled. "Hey, perfect! You two."

"Can we help you?" Alois asked. Ciel resisted the urge to smack Alois. _You idiot! _Alois walked over to the man. "H-hey! Wait a sec-"

"Think you could do a guy a small favor?" the man asked, his green eyes practically glimmering in happiness.

"Sure, if we can be of any help that is," the blond answered. "What are you-" Alois turned to Ciel, cutting him off. "Helping people doesn't hurt, right? Sometimes all people need is a good listener y'know."

The shorter of the two sighed. _Idiot._ _Look at the bigger picture!_

"So you'll hear me out? Awesome!" The man beamed. "My band's supposed to play here in a couple of hours but the tech's been gone all day. It'd be a big help if you could help look for him." He scratched the back of his head. "I have to stay here to hold down the fort."

"So this tech's part of the concert crew?" Alois fiddled with a loose string from his purple jacket.

"That's right. He's wearing a black T-shirt and has a lanyard around his neck." The green eyed man tapped his foot impatiently. "I hate to say it but without him around, we're screwed."

"So why exactly can't you go?" Ciel asked. _I'm not somebody's random servant of the day._

"I have a concert here tonight." He looked at the two strangely before hitting his fist against his open palm in realization. "I didn't introduce myself, did I?" He offered the partners a handshake. "My name's Ronald Knox, also known as 777 (Triple Seven)."

"777?" Alois pondered. "Oh! You're 777 from "Def Märch", right?"

"Oh, so you've heard of us? Rock on!" Ronald gave Alois a fist bump. "We're still Indie, but one day we're gonna make a rock revolu-"

Ronald turned and let out a few blaring coughs.

"Are you all right?" The blond raised an eyebrow.

"Just a sore throat," Ronald dismissed. "I had a lot of shouting to do. It's hard to get this set up without the tech around."

_No tech, no show, huh?_ Ciel crossed his arms. _If we find the guy..._ "Can you rehearse if we find him?"

"Yeah. We can't right now because of light problems, and if we don't get it fixed there's no show." Ronald looked at the two with a small frown. "So how about it? Can you go find him?"

"Hm, what do you think, Ciel?" Alois turned to him. _Though he's probably not thinking what I'm thinking._

"Sure," Ciel answered. "We'll do it." Alois looked to his partner. "We will?" _It seems he was thinking the same thing. He's a sharp one._

"Yeah. There's no harm in it." Ronald's grin only got bigger. "Thanks man! If you see him, tell him to hurry up and to get back to A-East. I'll be here waiting."

"Sure." Ciel walked ahead to leave the area. "What?" he asked, noticing Alois's smile.

"I didn't think you'd want to help the man, that's all."

Ciel rolled his eyes. "It wasn't about helping, it was more about getting the lights on so that we can research the damn place."

He went on ahead, noticing a man in red standing by the way to leave A-East. Alois, knowing his partner wasn't looking, shook his head. _I guess you still have a lot to learn about this._

_

* * *

_Sebastian returned to his calm demeanor, or at least tried. He wasn't exactly fond of the red haired man (although Grelle _insisted_ he think of him as a woman).

Grelle pouted. "It's been so long and that's the first thing you ask? I'm hurt, Sebas-chan~" He fixed his red coat, pulling it up to keep it from falling to the ground.

"Good. You didn't answer my question. Why are you here?" Sebastian dusted the knees of his pants. _These were my favorite too. I suppose that's what I get for kneeling on the back streets._

"How cold. You should be careful of how you act with me." Grelle placed a hand on his hip. "You're aware that a Game is currently in play, right?"

"Of course," Sebastian answered. _Though, I should thank that man for telling me about it._

"Well, as of yesterday I came across an... Interesting pair of players." Grelle kept his wicked smile in tact.

"Interesting?" the black haired man raised an eyebrow. He thought back to the events of Saturday. His eyes widened in realization. "You don't mean..."

"Of course I do~ A certain Reaper and a beloved human of yours have entered the Game. I came so close to erasing them, a pity some man with a gruff voice got in my way." He pouted, "If I had gotten them out of the way I could have been promoted! And could have gotten rid of that brat taking you away from me," Grelle complained.

_Ciel? He's in the Game? Then that means... _He stiffened. _The Composer... He really did think ahead. Does he know about our plans then?_ "Don't even think about it," Sebastian said firmly. "Just because there's a bounty on my head doesn't mean that I can't enter the UG."

"Anything for your beloved Ciel, right?" Grelle sighed. "If only you'd think of me as such. All because you developed feelings for him you got in such trouble. Isn't that right, Conductor- No." He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"_Demon Sebastian?"_

_

* * *

_**Authors ramblings: **There's a demon ranking in TWEWY though no characters have it. It's one of the ESP'er ranks you can get. Though in my fic the rankings don't mean much in power, just more like status.

_**Review so that I update?**_

_**Joshua: Review or else. -insert effeminate giggle that we all love here-**_

_**Beat: Yo, just review and ignore prissy!**_

**Preview for the next chapter:**

"How did he see us?" Ciel looked at the shop keeper, wondering if he had a Player pin as well.

Soma put his arm around Ciel;s shoulders. "So now do you trust us?"


	9. Black Marker Pt 1

**Authors ramblings: **Hey everyone! How's it going-

**Holy shit **I haven't updated in a year...

-cough- Well... funny story there... I get lazy. What? I''m only human dammit! Plus, being in high school wears me out and consumes my damn time! I don't need to justify myself to you! -walks away-

**Soma:** O_O I... What is this I don't even?

On a side note, I may be using titles from music that is not from TWEWY. Why? Because... Because.

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, TWEWY is merely to epic to be owned by a commoner!**

* * *

Sebastian couldn't resist smiling at the title. _You betray someone once and they ban you. Some people are just too sensitive._ He pushed a few strands of hair back in their place. "Now, now. Don't go around saying that like it's an insult." He gave a pleasant smile. "Besides, such titles really don't mean much. In the end they're just fancy names. Strength is what matters."

Grelle's smile turned absolutely insane. "Is that a threat?" Grelle could feel it. The intensity and rage that seemed to consume Sebastian's very being. Almost like an aura of a demon surrounding him. Still, Sebastian only smiled. "A threat? No. Merely a warning."

A scowl came upon the man's face. "The Composer thinks he has me. That will lead to his demise. He's always been too reckless anyway," the Demon muttered to himself in a low voice. Grelle, not having heard what the other had said gave a confused look.

"In any case," Grelle twirled the chainsaw in his hand. "The Composer's got his eyes on you. Whoever brings your head gets an instant promotion., the same goes for bringing in those two teen brats." The Reaper stopped twirling the chainsaw, looking Sebastian in the eyes. "What will you do now? You can go into the UG, but everyone will know you're there by sensing your power, or you can leave matters alone but chances are those kids will be erased."

Sebastian hated to admit it, so naturally he wouldn't say anything aloud, but the other was right. If he headed into the UG, Reapers would be able to sense his immense power. Going there in such a state would be a nuisance. On the other hand, Alois was with Ciel. Alois may have been young, but age had nothing to do with power. Even with his power lowered, Alois was strong. His knowledge of the UG would certainly come in handy with helping the two survive the Game. Of course, at the same time if Alois talked to much about his knowledge about the Game Ciel would surely suspect.

Times like these Sebastian wondered why they people bothered telling the dead to "rest in peace," because so far there was not a damn peaceful thing about it! And to think this would have to continue for as long as the Composer was around... As of now, it seemed the only option was taking him out. Not that the former Conductor cared much. That was his first option to begin with. The Composer wasn't exactly reasonable. If he was, none of this would be happening.

The so titled "Demon" could really only place fault on himself. He'd made a fool mistake. Not only had he grown an attachment to some _human _(not that it really was just _any_ human), but to the city and the people in it, and he let the Composer take notice of it. Showing a sign of weakness towards that man was the most regretful thing he could ever do. The only thing more idiotic would be the Composer knowing about said weakness and telling you he would destroy the city.

"Who knows? I assure you though," Sebastian turned to leave the back streets, "Demons are greedy things..." The rage in Sebastian was anything but subtle. It was frightening to say the least. The only thing more intimidating was the fact that even know he kept that pleasant smile. "And we just _hate_ it when our dear possessions are toyed with or threatened."

With those words Sebastian walked away from the effeminate Reaper. Grelle stood there, both scared and excited. He didn't know exactly what was happening, but it was huge. Rather, it was going to be. Right now whatever had happened to make Sebastian lose his cool was still but a bud, however something told Grelle soon it would bloom. Something was going down, and it involved Sebastian, that Ciel kid, Alois, and the Composer. To add to that as of last week, Claude had gone AWOL.

A grin spread across his face. Grelle really did love reckless events.

* * *

Ciel let out an irritable sigh. They'd only been in the game for about two days but those damn Reapers at every place blocking where they need to go pissed him off. Alois didn't seem to mind much, but seeing as how it was Alois, Ciel wasn't surprised. You could probably run the guy over with a truck and he'd forgive you.

The Reaper, leaning on the wall coolly gave them instructions per the usual monotone voice. "Want past this wall? Defeat these Noise!"

Ciel had to wonder if they were all brothers or something, what with the whole dressing the same and speaking in the same voice, but he digressed. "Another wall. How annoying."

"No big deal, right? We know how to deal with them now." The blond grabbed his cellphone in a tight grip, readying himself for the battle. "Also, now we have a chance to use the present that man gave us."

_~Flashback~_

"Well then," Bard smiled once more, "in honor of your growth as a person and a saved friendship, I'll give you a gift and a bit of advice. Try to remember everything I tell you, Blue." Ciel scowled. _How about you remember my name?_

"Um, Bard?"

"Yeah?"

"It's Ciel, not Blue."

A thunderous laugh bolted from Bard. "Right. I'll try to remember that, Ciel."

_Why do I doubt that?_ He shook his head. Now was not the time to correct the Guardian. "Anyway," Bard began once again. "You got questions, I got answers. Ask away."

"All right then." Alois had been standing on the side for some time now, but gave an amused smile at the boy's quick response. Clearly Ciel didn't want to waste any time.

"What do you know about this damn Game?"

Bard made a face, as if trying to figure out the right way to explain. "The Reapers' Game is... Well, as you know by now a mission is assigned each day. To win this game you gotta finish seven missions, one each day."

"So, if we don't, is it true..."

"...That we'll be erased?" Alois finished for Ciel.

"Well if we wanna be precise, only if all of you were to fail," Baldroy hastily added.

"What do you mean?"

Bard gestured to a crowd of people near them with his thumb. "You two may be a pair, but you aren't the only Players in this Game. If one Player, or rather one pair, completes the mission it's as if you all did."

"Then we don't really have to play?" It's not like Ciel was lazy, but if they could go back to being alive without all the stress, that would be a good strategy. They wouldn't have to risk being erased by insane Reapers or Noise.

"But what if all you Players were to think like that? Then-"

"We'd all wind up erased," Alois interrupted. There was a sorrowful look in his eyes and his teeth were ground together in anger.

"Aside from that, Reapers grade by points."

"Grade us?" _Great. Not only do we have crap ass rules but also people grading us. I never did like teachers... Wait._ Ciel's eyes widened slightly. _Never liked?_ He found it odd. Ciel couldn't remember a damn thing, but for some reason there was some hatred for teachers there...

"Every time you complete a mission you're given points." Bard looked off to the bus station where the Moyai had been located, though you couldn't see it from the distance. Even though there was nothing he could possibly see from the distance, his eyes were sharp, as if Bard was actually focusing on something.

"What are the grades for?"

Bard snapped out of his glare and went back to being his usual sloppy posture. "On the seventh day, you'll find out." Ciel didn't press any further, it seemed Bard wouldn't be telling them anymore about the subject. "Just clear the missions. You'll be glad you did."

"Okay. What are the Reapers exactly?"

"Their main jobs are running the game and testing you Players," Bard lazily began. "A lot like that she-he that messed with you earlier. They'll get in your way from time to time."

Alois shivered at the thought. "That she-he was a total creep..."

"So what are they, some kind of group?"

"Right on the mark! Sharp, Blue." Bard smiled brightly in contrast to Ciel's darkened annoyance. "You've seen those guys in red by the walls? They're Reapers too."

_I knew it._ Ciel wasn't all too surprised. Back then, in the underpass, he couldn't read that guy's thoughts. There was only one other thing they could be.

"Whoa! Really?" Alois said in astonishment. Ciel looked at him like he was an idiot, but it couldn't be helped. _Well, I'd rather him think of me as an idiot than find out about..._

"But if they are Reapers, why don't they attack us?"

"Not all Reapers are cut from the same cloth. Some are Harriers; others are just Support." Bard pointed to a nearby passing Reaper in red. "Those guys by the walls are Support, so they won't attack you. All they do is stand around and issue conditions to pass walls. Harriers on the other hand..." Baldroy wasn't tense, but it seemed that he deemed them troublesome. "They're hunters. They live hunting Players like you two."

Ciel furrowed his eyebrows together in annoyance. _So those Reapers like hunting, do they? Bothersome bastards._

"It's not just their job though. If they don't erase Players, dispatch Noise, and score points, they themselves are erased." From the looks of it, Bard held some sympathy towards the Reapers. "It's a survival game for everyone. Everyone's gotta eat kid."

"Yeah, and we're for lunch."

In spite of all this, one thing still bother Ciel. "Baldroy, who are you?"

"Me?" He comically blinked twice. _Now how do I answer that?_ Bard smirked slightly. "..." Silence fell upon them for a few seconds before the man spoke up.

"Well, I'm Baldroy, most people call me Bard, my birthday's March 3, blood type A, and I own a cafe."

"I didn't ask for your personal ad..."

"I love gambling, oh, and fire. My favorite word: "Blaze." My favorite food is anything really. "

"Mr. Bard, uh," Alois tried intercepting to no avail.

"As for my measurements-"

"Stop. I beg of you." There was only so much Ciel really needed to know about this man. His physical dimensions was not one of those things.

"You run a cafe?" Ciel mentally slapped himself. He didn't mean to ask the man, the words just slipped out. "I thought you said you were a Guardian?"

"It's just a hobby." Bard lazily waved a hand as if to dismiss the idea of him doing something as actual work. "Drop by if you get a chance. I'll give you the best coffee in Shibuya- For solid cash of course." Another boisterous laugh came from him.

_Making us pay... What the hell kind of invitation is that?_ The blue haired teen decided that questioning Bard was a waste of time.

"Anyway," Ciel quickly began. Another personal ad of Bard's wasn't necessary. "This place we're in..." Midnight blue eyes skimmed over the area. They skimmed over the hoards of people roaming around, walking, talking, laughing, and then he remembered the thoughts he and read before. A city like this... Was this really what Shibuya was like? How had he even survived when living there Ciel wondered. It was so crowded and loud. Almost stifling in a weird way.

"Shibuya?" Alois completed for his partner.

"Yes and no. It is Shibuya, but not your Shibuya. It's an alternate Shibuya called the UG."

"UG?"

"UG for Underground. Think of it as the Reapers' chess board." Bard explained in a tone that made it seem like it was completely natural for a city to have an alternate and have dead kids fight for their lives. Because that was definitely the norm, or so Bard made it sound like it was.

"You can't be serious... You expect me to believe that?" And although the skeptical teenager argued, it was due to the fact that even though it was something completely ridiculous... He found himself believing it! _This stupid game is screwing with my head..._

"The Shibuya you two came from is called the RG, or Realground." Alois felt the urge to laugh. _I guess you _could_ say I came from the RG._

"So, we're in another world?" Ciel's eyes were wide as saucers, or they would have been if he hadn't made sure to make himself look as uninterested as possible.

"No... Technically speaking, the RG and UG exist in the same space. Everything you see in the RG is the real deal. The UG however is run by the Composer."

"The Composer?" The shorter of the pair had noticed that this Composer guy sure came up a lot. "Who is he exactly? He said," Ciel pointed to Alois, "That the guy was like some boss."

"He's right. The Composer is basically the supervisor around here."

"Shibuya has a supervisor?"

"I really can't say anything more on the matter, sorry kiddo." Bard flashed him a bright smile. For some reason Ciel found this person... Interesting. Something about him was special. That much he could tell.

"Now for your gift!" The tan man sounded enthusiastic, and that was an understatement. A calloused, sun kissed hand out stretched towards Ciel. On the palm of his hand lay a completely white pin. It was plain and a bit bigger than his other pins. "In honor of the two of you making up!"

The pair eyed it suspiciously. It was a normal looking pin. All white. No weird designs, no brand on the back, not even a name. It was so average and normal looking that it felt suspect.

"Just what is this pin? It's completely blank," Alois inquired. _I've never seen a pin like this in all my time. Could it be some new pin? All new pins have to go through the Composer, and something so bland looking, there's no way they'd agree to this._

"This pin takes two people to use. It only works when you two are in complete sync. The more you two are in sync, the more you fuse your energy. Hence, when your sync is strong the psych this pin will release will also be strong." Ciel and Alois stared at the pin a while longer. Finally Ciel took the pin and clipped it to his shirt.

"You've got talent, Blue." He looked up at the Guardian. "You can use a wide range of psychs compared to many others. Cooperate and I'm sure you'll be able to use this one to it's potential."

"Yeah! You're great at psychs, a lot better than other Players," Alois praised happily.

"You think?" A small smirk found it's way to Ciel's face, and he felt like smacking himself for it.

"There ya go. You'll be able to pull it off."

_But I have to work with... HIM? Not happening. There's no point in this pin if I can't use it._ Ciel admitted he no longer found the other as annoying as before, but they were not friends. They weren't anything near it.

"This takes more than just skill to. It takes someone with style, we are in Shibuya after all." Smiles were a norm for Bard's face to be decorated with.

"I'll use it." If it would up their chances of surviving, he was all for it. Not that Ciel could truly believe that he and Alois could sync up, but they needed to try. That was all there was to it. "And also, it's Ciel, not Blue."

"Oh right! I'll remember from now on, Blue!" Ciel twitched. _Is he doing that on purpose? I can't tell if he's stupid or not._

_~End Flashback~_

"That guy was... Quite a character." The blond had known Bard for a while, and frankly that man was nothing short of strange.

"And bad with names," Ciel mumbled.

"Well, he gave us a pin, right? And he's kinda fun to talk to."

"I'll give you that." Ciel ignored the surprised look on his partners face when he said that. _Something about him pulls you in... I kind of wanna talk to him._

"Now that we have to fight anyway we should try that pin," Alois poked at the pin on Ciel's shirt.

_Me sync with that energetic ball of enthusiasm? Yeah, maybe next I'll become friends with him._ He almost laughed at the thought. With no response from Ciel, Alois only smiled. "Don't tell me you forgot? First we sync..."

_And that's where this whole idea goes to hell._

"Then we just use it!"

_What a detailed set of instructions._

"Ready to fight?" Alois got into his battle stance.

Ciel made sure his correct pins were set. "Let's do it."

* * *

_~Flashback~_

Piercing red eyes grazed over the sight. The poor boy, probably no older than 12, with eyes (rather and eye) that could belong to the dead. One of his eyes had been stabbed out by some maniac. Or so he had deduced.

Okay, maybe he just so happened to be standing right at the crime scene in his UG form and overheard it from the police. The poor boy looked traumatized. Every touch, whether it be from his doctors or his own parents seemed to linger on his skin, and not in a good way, more like poison. Ciel would rub at the places where even the slightest touch had reached.

If only Sebastian hadn't taken the Composer's orders, he could have prevented this. But the Composer had asked him to overlook today's mission in order to make sure everyone did their job. Sebastian agreed, and so he didn't stalk the boy today. If he had none of this would have happened.

The Conductor frowned. That boy wasn't just any boy. His levels of Imagination were pretty high. If he were in the UG no doubt that this boy would be exceptionally strong. The only thing a bit off was that for someone with such levels if Imagination, the boy seemed uninterested in everything. Even before this incident, they never really had anything to them. Only disinterest and spite of that around him. No doubt this would only worsen things.

Ciel had piqued the Conductor's interest, and so the Conductor figured it'd be fun to find out what made this boy tick. Sebastian headed to his home in the RG. His appearance was that of a high school student. Surely enrolling into a school that Ciel would be in would be near impossible... But fortunately for him the kid wasn't just any kid. Said kid was smart enough to have entered high school at the age of 11. It was probably all that tutoring he went through.

For now he'd have to help that kid out of his trauma.

So for all of summer vacation Sebastian would ghost around the Phantomhive estate in his UG form, to prevent the other from seeing him, in order to see what was going on. Over just three months the boy would no longer mind small touches. Things like hugging and such stilled angered him, but the boy had always been like that. And when the new semester came around...

"_He's a transfer student from England. Please treat Sebastian kindly."_

_~End Flashback~_

* * *

**Authors ramblings:** Okay, now that I've calmed down...

Soma: Hey- nothing from last chapters preview was even in this chapter!

You see, the thing about that is... -hits Soma over head-

But seriously, sorry about that. I wanted to update already so I couldn't fit everything I wanted into this chapter. I swear I'll put it in the next chapter. So for next chapter's preview, refer to the last chapter.

**Preview for next zetta chapter:**

Like I said, look at the preview from last chapter.


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